Mental Images-Examples and Benefits of Using Them

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Last Updated on January 28, 2023 by Mike Robinson

Almost everyone imagines things that they can see and hear. More than half of us can picture how things move, feel, taste, or smell. So, mental images in your mind aren’t always just “a picture.” For example, when you think of a bakery, you might also think of its tasty pastries.

Some individuals have a rare form of imagery called synesthesia. For these individuals, images cross normal sensory barriers. For one such person, spiced chicken tastes “pointy;” for another, pain is the color orange; and for a third, human voices unleash a flood of colors and tastes. Despite such variations, most of us use images to think, remember, and solve problems.

Examples of Mental Imagery

Make a decision or solve a problem like choosing what clothes to wear or deciding how to arrange furniture.
Change how you feel about something by imagining pleasant images to get out of a bad mood.
Get extra motivation by imagining yourself as thin to stay on a diet.
Improve a skill or prepare for some action by using images to improve a tennis stroke or mentally rehearsing how you will ask for a raise.
Aid your memory, for example, by picturing Mr. Cook wearing a chef’s hat so you can remember his name.

What is a Mental Image?

Mental images are not flat, like photographs. Researcher Steven Kosslyn proved this by doing a test. He asked a group of subjects, “Does a frog have lips and a stubby tail?” Unless you often kiss frogs, you will probably tackle this question by using mental images. Most people picture a frog and look at its mouth. Then they mentally rotate the frog in mental space to check its tail.

Mental rotation is partly based on imagined movements. In other words, we mentally pick up an object and turn it around.

Creating a Mental Picture

What happens in the brain when a person has visual images? Seeing something in your “mind’s eye” is similar to seeing real objects. Information from the eyes normally activates the brain’s primary visual area, creating an image. Other brain areas help us recognize the image by relating it to stored knowledge.

When you form a mental image, the system works in reverse. The part of the brain that stores memories send signals back to the visual cortex, where images are created. For example, if you visualize a friend’s face right now, the area of your brain that specializes in perceiving faces will become more active.

The Benefits of Using Mental Imagery

How are images used to solve problems? We use stored images (information from memory) to apply past experiences to problem-solving. Let’s say someone asks how many ways you can use an empty egg carton. You might begin by picturing uses you have already seen, such as sorting buttons into a curtain.

To give more original answers, you may need to use creative images you created or invented rather than remembered. That’s how some artists can completely picture a proposed sculpture before beginning work.

People with good imaging abilities tend to score higher on creativity tests, even if they are blind. In fact, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Lewis Carroll, and several of history’s most original intellects relied heavily on imagery.

Does the size of a mental image affect thinking? To find out, first picture a cat sitting beside a house fly. Now try to zoom in on the cat’s ears so you can clearly see them in your mind. Next, picture a rabbit sitting beside an elephant. How quickly can you see the rabbit’s front feet? Did it take longer than visualizing the cat’s ears?

When you picture a rabbit with an elephant, the rabbit’s image must be small because the elephant is giant. By using such tasks, Steven Kosslyn found that the smaller an image is, the harder it is to see its details.

To use this discovery, try imagining oversized images of things you want to think about. For example, to understand electricity, picture the wires as large pipes with electrons the size of golf balls moving through them. Or to understand the human ear, explore it in your mind’s eye like a large cave, and so forth.

Kinesthetic Imagery: Mental Images and Your Body

Do muscular responses relate to thinking? In a sense, we think with our bodies as well as our heads. We create kinesthetic motor images from muscular sensations. Such images help us think about movements and actions.

As you think and talk, kinesthetic sensations can guide the flow of ideas. For example, if a friend calls and asks you the combination of a lock you loaned her, you may move your hands as if twirling the dial on the lock.

Or, try answering this question: In which direction do you turn the hot water handle in your kitchen to shut off the water? Most people haven’t simply remembered the words “turn it clockwise” or “turn it counterclockwise.” Instead, you will probably turn the faucet in your imagination before answering. You may even make a turning motion with your hand before answering.

Kinesthetic images are especially important in music, sports, dance, skateboarding, martial arts, and other movement-oriented skills. An effective way to improve such skills is to practice by rehearsing kinesthetic images of yourself performing flawlessly.

Conclusion:

Mental images are not the only type of mental imagery. The majority of people have the ability to mentally recreate other sensory experiences, such as “hearing” the thrilling opening notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, remembering the taste of a crisp strawberry, or recalling the sensation of cotton delicately brushing against the face.

However, making visual pictures is typically easier for people than forming images of other sensory experiences.

Since the beginning of psychology in the 19th century, the study of mental images has caused a lot of disagreement. Much of the debate, both then and now, is about whether the ability to imagine is a sign of universal psychological processes or differences between people.

The reality is likely that it is a combination of the two.

References:

Cytowic, Richard E., and David M. Eagleman. “Wednesday is indigo blue.” Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia (2009).

Kadosh, Roi Cohen, and Avishai Henik. “Can synaesthesia research inform cognitive science?.” Trends in cognitive sciences 11.4 (2007): 177-184.

Kadosh, Roi Cohen, et al. “When blue is larger than red: Colors influence numerical cognition in synesthesia.” Journal of cognitive neuroscience 17.11 (2005): 1766-1773.

Wallace, Benjamin, and Barbara Gerboc Hofelich. “Process generalization and the prediction of performance on mental imagery tasks.” Memory & Cognition 20 (1992): 695-704.

Kosslyn, Stephen M. “Mental images and the brain.” Cognitive neuropsychology 22.3-4 (2005): 333-347.